"The Eagle has landed," said Astronaut Neil
Armstrong as he and Buzz Aldrin descended in their Lunar Lander onto the lunar
surface, becoming the first humans to land on the moon.
Another Lunar Lander, Aquarius, served as a
"lifeboat" for the Apollo 13 astronauts. Fred Haise from Biloxi, Mississippi,
Jim Lovell and John Swigert were all astronauts aboard that mission.
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When the Saturn V spacecraft [sic] would enter into orbit around the Moon, the
Lunar Lander would separate and descend to the Moon's surface with two of the
three crew aboard. Once it landed, it served as "base camp" while
the astronauts explored the Moon.
Once their visit was complete, the Lunar Lander Vehicle (LLV) would launch from
the lunar landing site to redock with the Command Module as it orbited around
the Moon.
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NASA Stennis Space Center, originally called Mississippi Test Facility, was
established in 1963 to test fire the rocket engines for the 36-story tall
Saturn V rocket that took America to the Moon.
The men and women of NASA and the citizens of the area made numerous sacrifices
to see that the Saturn V had the power needed to get to its destination.
This Lunar Lander Vehicle stands as testimony to "mission
accomplished."
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